"Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls."
-Proverbs 25:28

What an amazing person you are! By God's design, you have been invested with incredible potential. You have a heart that has the capacity to show great love, to give hope, truth and wisdom through your words, to create beauty and to bring light to darkness.

You have a charming personality that is uniquely suited to God's plans for you--perhaps a quiet, thoughtful introvert who ponders life deeply, or an extrovert who loves to reach out to people, perhaps you love to make messages and teach truth or maybe you serve others my perceiving their needs and meeting them.

Whatever personality you have, it is suited to play your role, your part in God's mega-story of history. No one else can play your role--just you. But, to live into God's potential, His love for you, the ways He wants to redeem your life there is one thing required! It all starts with your heart. Heart is mentioned over 800 times in scripture because it is of vast importance to God.

As we nurture and discipline our children, our goal is to teach them what is true and then train them how to choose to obey what is true. Same for adults!

If you have a heart to pursue Him, to trust Him, to obey Him, then you have all the possibility in the world to complete His design for your life. But, you mustchoose to rule over your heart, because to engage your whole life in your own great story requires you to rule over life from the commitment of your heart. It starts with self-government.

Self-government is defined this way: a person learns to command himself, his impulses, his work habits, emotions, intellect, and talents, and to rule over his will in a productive way.

Children can begin this at a very early age, and I have found it to also be of utmost importance to adults–as one cannot be a mature believer unless one has mastered self-government, self-control and patience.

The idea behind self-government is that all of us have power and authority over our own lives. This power comes from within, and can help us master problems, surmount obstacles, and use our self-will to achieve great things.

Self-government doesn’t mean working out life in the flesh without the power of God, but affirms that we have a moral character that can be strengthened and undergirded by our will, through practice. Mysteriously, the Holy Spirit, who lives inside of those who have committed their lives to Christ, prompts us to walk in righteousness. But, as we learn to obey His wisdom, to exercise our will, and seek to walk in his ways, our spiritual muscle grows stronger. The person who has cultivated this kind of strong character is useful and productive in every area of life.

To make this commitment today and inspire others to do the same, tweet and/or update your Facebook status today to:

I will own my life today by being self-governed. #ownyourlifebook

We will be posting the winner to the Grand Prize of my

Own Your Life Book Launch today as soon as we hear

from the winner to make sure she wants to attend our

conference!

My friend, Tsh Oxenrider, who blogs at theartofsimple.net is beginning a course for the new year that will inspire you, give wisdom, provide ideas, help you discover your purpose, and focuses on many of the principles found in Own Your Life: living with deep intention, bold faith and generous love. As a part of her course, you will hear excerpts from her interview with me, and about what it meant for me to write this book, to figure out how to live intentionally, to engage in a simpler life. There are 7 other contributors, and the course is packed full of helpful resources, challenges for your own planning. I think you will love this course, called The Upstream Field Guide. Find out more HERE , register for her course and get planning for a purposeful new year.